Mr Watson said: “He has obviously been told to stay by his close ally John McDonnell”.
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A seemingly endless string of his front bench team then quit in co-ordinated fashion, each releasing withering resignation letters, and on Friday two of them proposed the no-confidence motion which was voted upon yesterday.
“Labour Party members are not passive onlookers to be used and exploited at election time, only to be ignored thereafter – they are the lifeblood of our party, we are nothing without them”.
Mr McDonnell later acknowledged that the party was heading for a leadership election.
Ms Eagle, MP for Wallasey in Merseyside and a former Pensions Minister, is believed to have secured the support of enough MPs to be able to challenge Mr Corbyn.
The Labour leader made the call at the launch of a report into anti-Semitism during which he refused to answer questions about the challenge to his leadership.
Former acting Labour leaders Harriet Harman and Margaret Beckett have called on Corbyn to fall on his sword.
Nearly 40 members of his shadow cabinet – the opposition lawmakers who monitor or “shadow” the government policy – have resigned in protest since Sunday.
Arguing that his cause was “not about one individual”, he said he wanted to move Labour away from a pro-austerity “economic orthodoxy” which it embraced at the last election and change the way politics was done in the country.
Both of Britain’s biggest parties have been left reeling by the European Union referendum, creating a political vacuum just as financial markets have been hammered by uncertainty about leaving the bloc and fears grow of economic recession.
Cameron said on Wednesday it was bad for the country to have a weak opposition party.
Media captionCameron to Corbyn: ‘For heaven’s sake man, go!’
Union activists have to pressure their leaders to keep up their support for Corbyn.
Any future Labour leadership contest could have to be conducted amid reignited anger over the events of 2003.
Labour’s deputy leader warned today the party is facing an “existential crisis”, but ruled out standing against Jeremy Corbyn himself.
Tens of thousands of people joined the party last summer in order to vote for the veteran socialist.
“The constitution says that if a Leader loses the support of 20% of the Parliamentary party and they nominate another candidate, there should be a fresh ballot”.
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A number of prominent union leaders have rallied behind Mr Corbyn, issuing a joint statement saying that the Labour leader had a “resounding mandate” and a leadership contest would be an “unnecessary distraction”.
